Cattle Handling Pointers

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Keeping these three principles in mind, following are a few suggestions that will improve the ease of handling cattle, whether they are being gathered from the pasture or processed through the corrals. 1. “The only way to work cattle quickly is slowly.” (from a humorous book entitled Don’t Squat With Your Spurs On.) Patience is a great virtue when gathering and working cattle. When we get in a hurry, inevitably we put excessive or incorrect pressure on cattle, which usually results in an unintended reaction from the cattle. Then we get to ride (or walk) to the back and start over… 2. Work from the front to draw cattle to you. This goes back to the basic principle #1. <strong>Cattle</strong> can be easily controlled from the front if they are not afraid of a human. (If they are afraid you are a long way away from being able to handle cattle using low stress principles). Working from the front helps keep cattle from wanting to turn back in an effort to keep you in their line of sight. By moving in and out of the flight zone and point of balance, cattle can be easily drawn forward and past you to get them to go where you need them to go. Most people have seen this diagram outlining the flight zone and point of balance on a cow. However, it is important to remember that these are all just in theory and each individual animal will react differently to body position within these zones. The manner in which you approach or enter these zones or points of balance will impact how the animal responds. Where each animals point of balance falls varies greatly and is influenced by pressure in front or behind, draw of cattle ahead or behind them and whether or not they are comfortable going by the handler. Suffice it to say that the point of balance on any given animal is not where it is drawn on this diagram. Forget the angles and circles drawn above. It is the responsibility of each and every person handling cattle to be able to read and determine where these points are on each animal or herd you approach. About the only thing that is correct is the representation of the blind spot in the diagram. It is extremely difficult to stay in an animals blind spot. They will turn there head slightly to keep you in there line of sight. You can use
this to your advantage to draw cattle to one eye or the other when working from behind. 3. Apply pressure when cattle have a place to go. Low stress livestock handling is not about handling cattle with no pressure. In fact the success of handling cattle correctly depends on knowing when and where to apply pressure and how much pressure to apply. The other key component to low stress handling is setting the cattle up to go where you want them to go before you apply pressure. Just as important is to release the pressure as soon as the desired result is achieved. 4. Pressure from the side. This relates back to working from the front and down the side of an animal and not working from directly behind. The side of an animal is anything from the tip of the nose to the pin bones. Different animals respond differently to pressure and a good stockman must develop the ability to read livestock and anticipate the animal’s response before applying pressure. 5. <strong>Cattle</strong> must be comfortable to go by you and stay straight. If cattle are not comfortable going by you, they will not work for you very well. Working from the front requires you to get the cattle able to pass you without balking or spooking. This simple principle facilitates penning, sorting and processing cattle. The further forward you can make an animal’s point of balance the easier it is to work and sort cattle. That is why using the draw of other cattle makes it easier to work and sort cattle in an alley or from one corral to another. If an animal is abruptly stopped when it tries to pass the handler they will be increasingly reluctant to try and come by the handler. That is why it is important to not stop forward motion abruptly but rather allow the animal time and room to turn back until it is time for you to release the pressure by stepping out and toward them and asking them to go by, simply by changing your body position. This simple procedure of properly stopping and turning cattle away or back will make the difference in how cattle work throughout the day and their life. If the handler has to move past the point of balance as it is shown in the previous diagram to get an animal out of group then it can put them out of position to control movement of the cattle behind them further aggravating the problem. The key is to position yourself such that, when cattle go where they want to go, it is exactly where you intended for them to be. 6. Pressure cattle from behind only when absolutely necessary. Like any ‘prey’ animal, cattle cannot see directly behind themselves. If you assume a position directly behind cattle (in their blind spot), they will turn to one side or the other in order to see you. To ‘drive’ cattle in a straight line, assume a position behind their point of balance (shoulder) and off to either side.
Page 1: Cattle Handling Pointers by R. Gill
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Cattle Handling Pointers

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